Wahyu Tuhan untuk Capres

Ada banyak cara yang dipakai orang untuk menunjukkan dukungan terhadap capres/ cawapres pilihannya. Status-status di facebook, attachment ke berbagai link, notes, blog pribadi, dsb. Itu baru di dunia maya. Di keseharian juga masih banyak cara lain untuk menunjukkan dukungan. Tapi hari ini ada satu yang sangat menarik, lumayan untuk refreshment di jam kerja yang sibuk.

A Man Who Once Become Part of My Fantasy

Yes you can guess it by now, it’s him. Michael Jackson. I heard the shocking news early in the morning, a friend told me. Felt my heart break, something wrong with my throat, seemed hard to swallow. Loads of status updates in facebook are about him. With each of their own way, people expressing their feelings towards him. Nobody knew him personally. He’s a superstar, a legend, and lives long way from here, but yet all these people show their last respect. Even just in status updates.

Finally Got it!

Left early from office for the ’special day’-which finally arrived- to pick up my new passport. Along the way I was pretty sure that I won’t have to wait anymore.

All counters were closed, but I just ask a lady who was behind her computer to take my note of payment. I asked this woman because another younger woman who actually behind the counter herself, seems too busy or too deaf to hear what I said. Or simply because she couldn’t move because of those heavy make-ups all over her face.

Anyway, the older woman- surprisingly- was actually quite helpful, AND with a SMILE on her face. Not a wide smile but enough. Well well..a change of attitude, maybe start to happening here? She asked whether I still want to keep my old passport. I said yes, and she told me that I will need to fulfill a form and a copy of both my old and new passport.

Ok, no problem. Done it, paid another 8000 rupiahs and I finally got it! Felt so relieved, I done it by my own, ‘following THEIR procedures’, although with all the hustle bustle inside the office. For some it maybe just another day-just another-not-so-important piece of paper, for God’s sake- but I felt great anyway. I congratulated my self and thanked him who always willing to spare his time to stand by my side along those boring process Thanks a lot dear..

Lemot Akut Bureaucracy (part 4)

Untuk kesekian kalinya, kembali mengunjungi kantor imigrasi yang sudah berhasil menginspirasi saya menulis hingga menjadi 3 bagian. Hari ini seharusnya waktu untuk mengambil paspor yang-seharusnya- sudah jadi. Saya membayangkan hari ini tidak akan perlu banyak membuang waktu dengan menunggu. Instruksi yang saya ingat ketika wawancara 4 hari yang lalu adalah, “..silahkan kembali 4 hari lagi untuk mengambil paspor baru, cukup serahkan bukti pembayaran (warna putih) di loket.”

Lemot Akut Bureaucracy (part 3)

Arrived at 8 am something.Write my name,got number 5 in the list (not bad..or so I thought). Half an hour later got a call to pay at the cashier.No exact amount was written on the form,hopefully still the same,270.000 rupiahs.Another small card to queue,number 14.Hm.How long this will last..Then we wait again,what a boring chairs and view surrounds me…Lucky me,he’s by my side,so I wasn’t that dead bored. A woman beside me complaining about how slow these people are in handling things.I said the same thing to her,these people are to slow,didn’t understand what make them this slow!Haven’t they eat breakfast yet or what?I remember this woman beside me well,she’s the the same woman I saw last week.She was standing by my side at the counter that time,tried to explain that her name is the real one,never been changed before..Quite a dialogue,that’s why I remember her today. Wait about 15 minutes or so,the cashier called my number.What a surprise,before me was number 8!How come the order changed,from 8 to 14?Didn’t get it.So it’s still 270.000 rupiahs.Ok.Next step was to return the yellow sheet back to the counter,and of course,they told me to wait.This time got no queue number.It made me upset,how then I know when will be my exact turn to be called up?They can easily switched my turn to somebody else’s,right?Almost an hour in vain,finnaly I called up to take my pic.I was so upset,it turned out I looked like a ghost in the pic.So be it..Then another seat at the waiting room,then finnaly the interview..About my name,birthday,address,where will I planned to go..where’s my last visit abroad,etc.Some signatures,and then the guy told me it’s done,told me to be back 4 days later to take my new passport.FOUR days?Another days?OMG.What to do,this is all you got with the slow work system,uneffective flow of bureaucracy..

Lemot Akut Bureaucracy (part two)

Surat rekomendasi asli sudah ditangan, hasil dari berpacu dengan waktu mengejar tandatangan direktur SDM. Kejadian konyol sehari sebelumnya nyars terlupakan, berkat olah visualisasi kreatif di malam hari. Harapan untuk menyelesaikan segala urusan di hari ini pun terbangkitkan dan perjalanan ke lokasi terasa ringan..

Lemot Akut Birokrasi (part one)

Libur di hari kerja memang sering dimanfaatkan untuk mengurus samsat, SIM, bayar membayar tagihan, dan lain-lain. Libur di hari kerja kali ini saya manfaatkan untuk mengurus perpanjangan passport yang sudah habis masa berlakunya beberapa hari lalu. Setelah bertanya kanan kiri -sampai browsing segala untuk mengingat yang perlu dipersiapkan dan dilakukan—saya merasa cukup percaya diri mengurus semuanya sendiri. Itu berarti mengikuti prosedur normal tanpa short cut, baik lewat calo maupun lewat ‘surat sakti’.

Free-spirited Piko

 

Piko- my Balinese breed dog- became part of our family about  4 years ago as a clumsy little dog. From his look, nothing special about him. Dog of his kind is widely known –just for fun- as ‘balinese dalmatian’ because of the mix of black and white spots on their skin. He was given by a friend’s aunt who actually hesitant to let him go, and made me promise that I’ll take a good care of him. 

BookWorm (3)

Seandainya disini ada Social Agency, mungkin Gramedia bukan satu-satunya pilihan berburu buku. Tapi syukurlah ada Toga Mas-alias ToMas biar gampang sebut- yang kurang lebih sama seperti Social Agency : toko buku diskon. Memang tidak se-chick tampilan Gramedia dalam hal display, tapi bagi mereka yang cinta buku, rasanya ini bukan masalah besar. Just scroll up and down the racks, you’ll find a lot of interesting books. Ini juga berlaku di Gangarams Book Bureau, di Bangalore. Display yang teratur dan rapi sama sekali bukan hal utama disini, tentu saja tanpa mengabaikan kualitas/ kelengkapan koleksi buku..

BookWorm (2)

Sebelum ke Sydney, ada pre-departure dulu selama 3 bulan di Jakarta. Uang saku per bulan cukup besar, terutama buat mereka yang dari daerah. Pernah sekali waktu, my beloved yang tugasnya anter jemput (waktu itu belum status pacaran, masih ‘hanya’ kerabat) ada kuliah di kampus Depok, jadi aku statusnya dititip di Gramedia Matraman. Dari Kuningan ternyata jauh buanget, bener-bener bikin lemes. But once nyampe di Gramedia..huaaaa..ilang semua lemesnya. I end up beli buku se-plastik besar, trus ngopi di cafetraianya (sempit bener) sambil baca buku. I thought to myself, this is life, mau beli buku.. uang ada, dengan kopi dan buku di depan mata, life IS good!But that was only the beginning of my journey with books..